The Executive Director of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem yesterday condemned, “the plethora of brutal measures Israel has been using,” against Palestinians since the beginning of October, in particular its “shoot-to-kill policy.”

Hagai El-Ad cited many of the “brutal measures” Israel has been using against Palestinians, which include housing demolitions and restrictions on movement, but said that the most “striking” was the policy to shoot and kill alleged attackers who posed no threat to those around them.

El-Ad highlighted “the complete apathy toward the occupation until Palestinian violence erupts.” He stressed that “the violence in the [occupied Palestinian territories] didn’t start just a couple of months ago. It began almost fifty years ago, when millions of people came under military rule, and the violence hasn’t stopped for a minute since.”

“Soldiers and police officers have become judge, jury, and executioner,” according to El-Ad. “Although the so-called “capital punishment for terrorists” law was defeated by a landslide in Israel’s parliament, it is being implemented on the ground, outside the bounds of law and morality,” he continued.

In the face of these policies, El-Ad said that B’Tselem would continue to advocate for the protection of human rights, which include “the right to life and the right to bodily integrity.”